The motorsports legend finally ended his incredible career after the 2021 season, but h𝓀is decision to quit came months earlier and coincided with other huge news.

Rossi 🐲explains how he came to the difficult decision to stop🤪.

“In the last few years when I was struggling more, I also talked about it with Carlo, my trainer,” he said on Gianluc🉐a Gazzoli’s podcast.

“We said: ‘You have to race until you really can’t take anymore, so you don’t have regrets afterw༺ards’.

“There were a lot of riders who q👍uit too soon. 

“But they couldn’t stay away. They came back and mess♌ed thinꦕgs up.”

Rossi raced on for 12 years after the last of his seven MotoGP championships.

He was 42 when the time finally came to retire.

“I decided to stop after Assen,” he said.

“I wanted to race again but I said to myself:♎ ‘Let’s see 𒉰if I am competitive because I can’t come here to finish 12th’.

“Assen was an im🎃portant race because it is one of m𒁏y favourite tracks.

“It is one ༒of the tracks where I’ve won 10 times, so it has always been a bit of my home.”

But something else w♏as happening in Rossi’s life simulta🌌neously.

“Before leaving, I went to lunch with Francesca. She said: ‘I don’t like coffee anymore, strange because I’ve always liked coffee, maybe I’ll d🅠o a test in the next few days’.

“I to🍸ld her ‘fine’ and left for Assen. While I was there, I didn’t think about her🌌 test.

“In the race I had a bad start, crashed, I was fighting with Enea Bastianini, I wrecked tꦅhe bik🌸e.

“When you are in the g💯ravel you say: ‘If I need a sign to stop, it is this!’

“Imaginꦍe my state of mind because it means giving up a life that you had for 25 years.”

Rossi returned to Italy knowing that hi꧙s career was coming to an end, but he hadn’t told anybody yet.

Bigger news was still to come.

“Wh𝐆en I arrived I told Francesca to come out for dinner but she said ‘no, you come here’.

“I had the impr𒁏ession that sheꦕ wanted to tell me something.

“It happened all together - I found out I😼 was becoming a father on the day that I decided to stop racing.”

Rossi and Francesca ha🐬d their baby daughter in March 2022, by which time the MotoGP icon had retired.